I Contain Multitudes: Microbe Minute
pbs documentaries

I Contain Multitudes: Microbe Minute

Season 1
In these Microbe Minutes, acclaimed science writer Ed Yong shows what’s really driving life on Earth; microbes that help digest food, shape development, and influence behavior. Just for starters, they help animals to communicate with one another. Each of us is more of a zoo than an individual--we are each an ecosystem.
20189 episodes7+
Free trial of PBS Documentaries

Terms apply

Episodes

  1. S1 E1 - Koalas

    November 19, 2017
    1min
    TV-PG
    To most animals, eucalyptus leaves are toxic if you eat enough of them. Yet koalas eat almost nothing else. Their secret? Microbes. The tannins in eucalyptus keep the leaves from being digested, but the koala's gut is packed with bacteria that unlock the nutrients.
    Free trial of PBS Documentaries
  2. S1 E2 - Cats & Rats

    October 22, 2017
    1min
    TV-PG
    Cats are cunning, stealthy hunters and for prey like rodents, the smell of a feline means stay away. But we see a rat heading straight toward danger.  It's been tricked by a microbe.
    Free trial of PBS Documentaries
  3. S1 E3 - Coffee Borer Beetle

    November 5, 2017
    1min
    TV-PG
    Caffeine is one of the world’s most popular psychoactive drugs. Caffeine is made in coffee plants--and can act as a deterrent to insect predators but one beetle has found a countermeasure--microbes.
    Free trial of PBS Documentaries
  4. S1 E4 - Puffer Fish

    January 15, 2018
    1min
    TV-PG
    These tropical fish have a signature defense. But inside some is more protection--a potent toxin made by microbes. Those with spines have even more security; and there’s a third defense that some of these fish share. A neurotoxin on the skin and inner organs that’s produced by bacteria. It can be deadly to many creatures including humans. Oddly, some blowfish with this toxin are a delicacy.
    Free trial of PBS Documentaries
  5. S1 E5 - Snowflake

    December 3, 2017
    1min
    TV-PG
    Microbes are the key to snow. When liquid water turns to ice, crystals sometimes need a place to start growing. Without that seed, water can cool to minus 40 degrees before freezing. Often, a bacterium acts as the seed. Bacteria are all around us, even swept up into the clouds by winds. There, they help ice crystals to form.
    Free trial of PBS Documentaries
  6. S1 E6 - Iguana

    January 28, 2018
    1min
    TV-PG
    After they lay their eggs, iguana mothers don't stick around to help their young. Hatchlings must seek out the adults' droppings, loaded with microbes that will help them break down plants. Teamwork plays a part too. Highly social, the iguanas huddle in pods, spreading bacteria from one to another. Sharing germs gives these babies a boost at this fragile time of life.
    Free trial of PBS Documentaries
  7. S1 E7 - Hoopoe

    February 11, 2018
    1min
    TV-PG
    The Eurasian hoopoe have a difficult road to adulthood. But they have protection from bacteria; a gland on the mother secretes a bacteria laden-paste that the mother smears on her eggs. These microbes help to defend the egg and chick against disease. The foul smelling paste may even drive away predators. So this bacterial partnership protects the hoopoe against threats, both big and small.
    Free trial of PBS Documentaries
  8. S1 E8 - Weevil

    March 18, 2018
    1min
    TV-PG
    A grain weevil spends its early days nestled inside a cereal seed, but after it emerges into the world as an adult, the insect is in dire need of defenses. That credit goes to a microbial partner living inside the weevil’s gut, who produces the perfect chemicals to help build a sturdy, external skeleton.
    Free trial of PBS Documentaries
  9. S1 E9 - Locusts

    April 1, 2018
    1min
    TV-PG
    Inside the gut of a locust is a powerful bacterial symbiont: a microbe that holds the key to coordinating the monstrous insect swarm. When the time is right, the microbe releases a chemical to help cue their insect host to take flight and head to greener pastures.
    Free trial of PBS Documentaries